The ATSC digital broadcast standard for digital television allows for the transmission of 19 Mbits/sec in an RF channel having a 6 MHZ bandwidth. Although this allocated bandwidth is adequate for a single analog NTSC television channel, the ATSC bit rate permits the same channel to support the concurrent transmission of several standard definition television (SDTV) programs (i.e., programs displayable with a resolution comparable to that of the NTSC analog program). Alternatively, the allocated bandwidth at the ATSC bit rate permits a channel to support the transmission of a single high definition television (HDTV) program at a time. Moreover, the ATSC digital broadcast standard permits data to be transmitted in the channel along with digital programming. Therefore, data packets may be multiplexed in the channel with video and audio program packets.
Various receivers, such as digital televisions, digital VCRs, and computers equipped with digital television tuner and demodulator cards, may receive the digital programming. Because data may be transmitted along with one or more programs in a digital RF channel, it is possible to transmit program content that includes data. Such program content, for example, may be a commercial with an embedded uniform resource locator (URL) associated with a website containing additional information about the product or service being advertised or may include a coupon for the advertised product.
Because the program content that includes the Internet address is broadcast in a digital RF channel, it is also receivable by digital receivers other than computers, such as digital televisions. However, typical digital televisions are not web enabled. Therefore, the user of such a digital television has no access to the additional information linked to the Internet address embedded in a received program if the user does not also have a computer with a tuner and demodulator card.
The present invention is directed to a device and method which permit remote access to data, such as an Internet address, embedded in a program received by a digital receiver.